Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women in prison have been identified as having previously been in local authority care in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The data regarding the number of prisoners with primary caring responsibilities is not currently available. It is not possible to obtain the requested information without incurring disproportionate cost. The Basic Custody Screening (BCS) tool only captures the prisoner(s) self-declaration to questions asked by prison staff. There is currently no definitive way to cross check or validate the prisoners claim as to whether they do or do not have children, or the specific number of children.
The Government is seeking to improve our data and evidence in this area through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a cross-government Shared Outcomes Fund project which will link data to enable better evidenced and more joined up cross government services. Through BOLD, we will explore data sharing to improve our understanding of the number of parents in prison and the number of children impacted by parental imprisonment. BOLD’s findings will include breakdowns by gender and sentence length, enabling us to identify how many female prisoners serving a sentence of 12 months or more have children. Findings will be published when the analysis is complete.
Changes have also been made to the Basic Custody Screening Tool to enable us to improve the quality of data on entry to prison about how many primary carers are in custody, how many children under the age of 18 are affected by their imprisonment and the ages of those children. The learning from the data collected will be incorporated into findings from the BOLD programme.
Since 2015, as part of the basic custody screening interview, we have recorded the answers of all new prisoners coming into custody as to whether they have been in the care of local authority children’s services at any time. The information is purely self-declared. The number of women in prison who have been identified as having previously been in local authority care at any time who entered custody in each of the last five years is provided in the table below.
Year | Number of Records |
2018-19 | 1367 |
2019-20 | 1263 |
2020-21 | 770 |
2021-22 | 878 |
2022-23 | 998 |
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women in prison were transferred to a secure hospital under provisions in the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Please see below table showing the number of female prisoners who were transferred to a mental health hospital under Part 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 1 in each of the last five years. This is in the context of a female prison population which stood at 3,253 as of June 2022:
2018 | 111 |
2019 | 125 |
2020 | 103 |
2021 | 102 |
2022 | 139 |
1) Includes remand and sentenced prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the 33 recommendations contained in The Farmer Review for Women, published in June 2019, have been implemented.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Since the publication of the Farmer Review for Women, we have implemented 27 out of 33 recommendations. We have embedded the importance of family ties and supportive relationships into delivery of the Female Offender Strategy and will continue to monitor this through the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan.
On 31 January 2023 we published a progress update on the implementation of Lord Farmer’s Review for Women’s recommendations: farmer-review-women-progress-update.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the rates of self-harm by prisoners under Imprisonment for Public Protection in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Please see the attached table showing the rates of self-harm by prisoners under Imprisonment for Public Protection1,2,3,4,5 for the last five years that data is available.
The numbers used to derive the rates of self-harm for this PQ are published. The quarterly population figures are taken from the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication and then averaged across the calendar year. The self-harm incidents are taken from the annual self-harm in prison custody tables from the Safety in Custody Quarterly publication. The rates are calculated using these figures, and the methodology described in footnote 5 below.
Imprisonment for public protection (IPP) | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners | 895.0 | 1129.5 | 1271.2 | 1095.5 | 1108.0 |
(1) Figures include incidents during contracted out escorts. Figures do not include incidents at Medway STC.
(2) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self-harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. Care needs to be taken when comparing figures shown here with other sources where data may be less complete.
(3) A new sentence - Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) - was introduced in 2005.
(4) The definition of IPP prisoners included in this analysis only includes unreleased prisoners. IPP prisoners who have been recalled to prison after a release are not included.
(5) Self-harm incident rates are derived by 1,000 x (number of incidents in year)/(average population for year). Prison population figures are from the Offender Management Statistics quarterly bulletin and are averaged across the four quarterly population figures for each year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the numbers of prisoners under Imprisonment for Public Protection serving ten or more years beyond their original tariff.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the Parole Board concludes that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for them to remain confined.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) continues to work closely with Samaritans for the delivery of the Listener Scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide support to fellow prisoners in emotional distress. It is important to highlight that Prison Chaplaincy provides not only faith and belief advice but pastoral care to prisoners of all faiths, beliefs and of none, irrespective of sentence type or length, in support of HMPPS’ commitment to decency, safety and rehabilitation.
As the number of those serving IPP sentences in prison who have never been released reduces, the proportion of cases which are the most complex and high risk increases. This does mean that we should expect that the number of first releases will continue to slow and the time spent past tariff will increase. However, the IPP Action Plan is focused on, firstly, ensuring each IPP prisoner has a sentence plan, regularly reviewed, with clear objectives as to what the prisoner has to do to reduce risk and, secondly, that the prisoner is held in a prison with an opportunity to achieve those objectives.
In the Government response to the Justice Select Committee’s IPP report, we committed to refreshing the IPP Action Plan, focusing not only on important changes to improve the prospects of IPP offenders making progress towards a prospective safe and sustainable release, but also to ensure there are robust processes to drive effective monitoring and accountability for delivery of that plan.
The Women’s Estate Psychology Service (WEPS) have implemented a National IPP strategy which takes a bespoke case management approach to each woman serving an IPP sentence. The overarching goal of the strategy is to ensure that all are proactively supported to progress through their prison sentences as quickly as possible. Psychologists regularly review cases and jointly work with prison and probation colleagues to remove barriers to progression and expedite completion of interventions and services. There are, as of end December 2022, 40 women in custody serving an IPP sentence, 12 of whom have never been released.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what emotional support and spiritual provision is available to prisoners under Imprisonment for Public Protection.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the Parole Board concludes that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for them to remain confined.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) continues to work closely with Samaritans for the delivery of the Listener Scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide support to fellow prisoners in emotional distress. It is important to highlight that Prison Chaplaincy provides not only faith and belief advice but pastoral care to prisoners of all faiths, beliefs and of none, irrespective of sentence type or length, in support of HMPPS’ commitment to decency, safety and rehabilitation.
As the number of those serving IPP sentences in prison who have never been released reduces, the proportion of cases which are the most complex and high risk increases. This does mean that we should expect that the number of first releases will continue to slow and the time spent past tariff will increase. However, the IPP Action Plan is focused on, firstly, ensuring each IPP prisoner has a sentence plan, regularly reviewed, with clear objectives as to what the prisoner has to do to reduce risk and, secondly, that the prisoner is held in a prison with an opportunity to achieve those objectives.
In the Government response to the Justice Select Committee’s IPP report, we committed to refreshing the IPP Action Plan, focusing not only on important changes to improve the prospects of IPP offenders making progress towards a prospective safe and sustainable release, but also to ensure there are robust processes to drive effective monitoring and accountability for delivery of that plan.
The Women’s Estate Psychology Service (WEPS) have implemented a National IPP strategy which takes a bespoke case management approach to each woman serving an IPP sentence. The overarching goal of the strategy is to ensure that all are proactively supported to progress through their prison sentences as quickly as possible. Psychologists regularly review cases and jointly work with prison and probation colleagues to remove barriers to progression and expedite completion of interventions and services. There are, as of end December 2022, 40 women in custody serving an IPP sentence, 12 of whom have never been released.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of women serving sentences under Imprisonment for Public Protection.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the protection of the public and the effective management of offenders. By law, prisoners serving indeterminate sentences who have completed their tariff will be released only when the Parole Board concludes that it is no longer necessary on the grounds of public protection for them to remain confined.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) continues to work closely with Samaritans for the delivery of the Listener Scheme, through which selected prisoners are trained to provide support to fellow prisoners in emotional distress. It is important to highlight that Prison Chaplaincy provides not only faith and belief advice but pastoral care to prisoners of all faiths, beliefs and of none, irrespective of sentence type or length, in support of HMPPS’ commitment to decency, safety and rehabilitation.
As the number of those serving IPP sentences in prison who have never been released reduces, the proportion of cases which are the most complex and high risk increases. This does mean that we should expect that the number of first releases will continue to slow and the time spent past tariff will increase. However, the IPP Action Plan is focused on, firstly, ensuring each IPP prisoner has a sentence plan, regularly reviewed, with clear objectives as to what the prisoner has to do to reduce risk and, secondly, that the prisoner is held in a prison with an opportunity to achieve those objectives.
In the Government response to the Justice Select Committee’s IPP report, we committed to refreshing the IPP Action Plan, focusing not only on important changes to improve the prospects of IPP offenders making progress towards a prospective safe and sustainable release, but also to ensure there are robust processes to drive effective monitoring and accountability for delivery of that plan.
The Women’s Estate Psychology Service (WEPS) have implemented a National IPP strategy which takes a bespoke case management approach to each woman serving an IPP sentence. The overarching goal of the strategy is to ensure that all are proactively supported to progress through their prison sentences as quickly as possible. Psychologists regularly review cases and jointly work with prison and probation colleagues to remove barriers to progression and expedite completion of interventions and services. There are, as of end December 2022, 40 women in custody serving an IPP sentence, 12 of whom have never been released.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many restricted status prisoners were held in the female estate in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
A Restricted Status (RS) prisoner is any female, young person or young adult prisoner, convicted or on remand, whose escape would present a serious risk to the public and who is required to be held in designated secure accommodation.
The table below provides the overall total figure for the specified year for those held in the female estate.
A remanded female prisoner classified as RS is subject to review on an annual basis up until the time of their trial unless further information is received to suggest that an earlier review of their RS status is required.
Following completion of their trial and if convicted and sentenced, the prisoner will then have their First Formal review which will decide whether RS remains warranted.
| Total |
2012 | 11 |
2013 | 11 |
2014 | 8 |
2015 | 11 |
2016 | 12 |
2017 | 19 |
2018 | 20 |
2019 | 17 |
2020 | 18 |
2021 | 18 |
2022 | 19 |
2023 | 21 |
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice on 18 October 2022 (59996), what issue resulted in undercounting convictions for offences under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018; and whether it was rectified for data published in and after November 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While improving our data processing in 2022, a data mapping issue was discovered in the Courts Proceedings Database production. As detailed in the Criminal Justice System statistics December 2021 publication, an estimated 3,220 convictions for the offence under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018 were not correctly mapped to the offence of Assault on Emergency Worker between 2019 and 2021 meaning an undercount for that offence in those years. This issue was reflected in the known issues tabs of our published data tools and tables. Convictions in 2018 were not affected.
We fixed the incorrect mapping of 1,919 of these convictions (274 in 2019, 619 in 2020 and 1,026 in 2021) which are presented in the year ending June 2022 edition of the Outcomes by Offence data tool. This means that an estimated undercount of 1,301 convictions for this offence remains (227 in 2019, 530 in 2020 and 544 in 2021). We have quantified the remaining undercount and will explore ways of incorporating this in future publications.
This mapping has been corrected in data for 2022 therefore all data in future years, since the Criminal Justice System statistics June 2022 publication, will present correct figures.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bellamy on 28 November (HL Deb col 1561), what plans they have to announce (1) the timeframe, and (2) the terms of reference, for the Royal Commission on the criminal justice process, as announced in the Queen's Speech on 19 December 2019.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Both the timeframe and terms of reference for the Royal Commission are under review. We continue to prioritise recovery in the criminal justice system and it is right to do so in light of the disruption caused by the Criminal Bar Association’s recent action. Our focus is on delivering our priorities over the coming months and overhauling the UK human rights framework through the Bill of Rights, which will safeguard the wider public interest, while restoring some common sense to our justice system.